Almost Lost
by CorellianAngel
Summary: Leia uncovers the hidden power within her as she nearly loses the person closest to her. Lots of feels and potential major character death. AU post Endor. For the Tumblr prompt Han and Leia appreciation week, Day 6 "Lost"


A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for that which jumped out of my own head. I play in Disney's sandbox with their (and formerly George's) toys. I appreciate that they shared them and I promise to give them back after. Nobody is paying me and I earn no income from these works.

A/N: This is a story for the Tumblr prompt Han/Leia Appreciation Week Day 6 "Lost" hosted by the blog **han-leia-solo**. I've had a scene like this for my favorite OTP in my head since, well…forever! Anyhow, a warning; There are some sad, sad feely bits ahead.

Remember- Comments make baby Wookiees smile

Timeline: Star Wars Alternate Universe, any era after Luke's revelation to Leia on Endor. I kept certain descriptions intentionally vague so your personal headcanon for this story can fill in as you'd like.

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 **Almost Lost**

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Leia skidded to halt next to Han Solo's prone form, landing rough on her knees. The Princess cast a quick look around at their surroundings, the fires around them casting a red glow across the field, beyond that, plumes of smoke in the forest denoting a crashed vehicle or destroyed emplacement. Well over a dozen enemy casualties lay scattered around him, not including the wrecked heavy hover tank at the edge of the clearing. She leaned over him, carefully cradling the handsome Corellian general's face in her hands, trying not to disturb him too much for fear of further injuring him. She stripped off her gloves and examined Han's features for signs of life, her quivering pale fingers skimming over the familiar landscape of his partially open mouth, the crinkles at the corner of his eyes, the firm line of his jaw. Thin rivulets of blood from his nose and mouth ran down his face to pool in the hollow at the base of his neck. Leia lowered her ear to his mouth, testing for breath. Nothing. Her mouth in a grim line, she listened at his chest for a moment, and drew back, the edges of her dark brown eyes shimmering. Nothing. She checked for a pulse on Han's neck, his wrist, the inside of his elbow in increasingly desperate movements. She bent over him again, her hand covering the gaping hole in his side. The blood streamed through her fingers as she applied pressure to the wound.

"Han..." Leia choked back a sob. Tears rimmed her eyes as she searched his half opened ones. His variegated green and golden flecked irises were dulling, the glimmer leaving his pupils. She felt a faint tugging in the back of her consciousness, an unraveling of a thread that was deeply intertwined with hers in the most ancient way.

Hand not leaving his wound, Leia dove forward and embraced his fading warmth with her other arm. She came up after a moment, just enough to touch her forehead to his, noses rubbing. She took another memorizing look at his eyes and closed her own, focusing, "No, no, no." Leia chanted in a whisper.

Luke extinguished his lightsaber and sprinted towards his sister across the battlefield, when he suddenly came up short a few metres beside her. He felt himself slowed by a barrier in the Force. A pliable solid wall that prevented his approach. He placed his hand up against it, testing. Far overhead there was a loud explosion as a Y-wing, pursued by an enemy fighter, blazed across the clear blue sky to its ruin. Bits of falling wreckage bounced off the field around Leia, appearing to skittering along a dome shape over her. The Jedi pushed at the barrier once more, reaching out to his sister with his mind and his voice. "Leia. Leia, please let me in. We can still help him. The medics are on the way." Luke put more optimism into his words than he felt. His friend's presence in the Force was slipping away, not gone yet, more like the fading glow of an extinguished ember.

Leia didn't hear him, she ignored the call that came through the telepathic Force link with her twin brother. She was virtually untrained, but undeniably strong. Luke had long suspected that her raw abilities were more powerful than his disciplined skills, yet she rarely used hers in any noticeable capacity.

Until now.

Leia reached out around her in the Force, feeling the living sparks of the various life forms around her. She felt their presences: indigenous creatures, the green vegetation, her enemies, her allies, her brother, and finally her lover. There was the faintest glimmer in the Force from the dying man in her arms, and she latched on to it desperately. The presence struggled to free itself, to fade away from the pain, the endless strife. Leia almost lost the connection, she hung on as if gripping the slippery edge of a cliff. The Princess felt a sensation building in her chest. A tearing of a veil that had hidden something deep inside her. Her power boiled forth from that center and she pulled again at Han's dimming presence, yanking it forward from the abyss.

She found her hand gripping the edges of his worn dark jacket, pulling Han's limp form close to her now, as if he could hear her. "No, Han. No! YOU don't get to die. You stubborn sonovabitch, you've fought against everything that ever crossed your path. You fought me, you fought for me, you fought the Empire and you even shot at Vader. Twice! You are not leaving me here alone, damn it! You are not allowed to die! …Now FIGHT!" She was screaming in Han's face, her voice hoarse and ragged. She straightened, her hands still on his wounded side and gripping his collar with white knuckles, tears streamed down her cheeks and his blood soaked into her shirt front and knees. Leia inhaled deeply. A low growl emitted from the back of her throat, building to a guttural roar of pain and denial that burst forth from her as she threw her head back, in an undulating dense wave of agony and power.

There was a visible ripple in the air around Leia. The oxygen seemed to get sucked out of everyone's lungs as far as the eye could see. A few people stumbled. The fighting lulled as both enemies and allies felt inexplicably weakened and dazed. The Force sensitives experienced it the worst. Luke fell to his knees breathless, he clutched at his head, suddenly dizzy, the strength in his limbs leaving him. He managed to just barely raise his head and squinted through the haze at his sister.

A distortion in the atmosphere centering on Leia spread out rapidly in a sphere around her. It tore across the surface of the ground and through the sky above her, the grasses and shrubs flattened, the trees whipped their branches as if in a heavy gale. There was a muffling of the battle's clamor as the disturbance's front passed, then there was a wall of sound, like the rush of a huge waterfall, and a hot hurricane wind buffeted the area throwing up clouds of leaves and dirt. The existing fires flared like small supernovas and their now towering flames threatened to lick up to the heavens.

The power packs on all the blasters, and energy weapons started to heat up as the shockwave flowed over them. Luke felt the lightsaber hilt on his belt beginning to singe his robe. He fumbled at the release for the energy cell and hurled it away from him. It spat and scorched the grasses around it when it landed a couple of metres away. Halfway across the field, a blaster emplacement, burst into a bright explosion of sparks, tipping forward on its tripod, useless. Blasters were dropped or flung away from soldiers as their energy cells overloaded and ruptured. The wreckage of the nearby hover tank crumpled in on itself, as if being pushed back and crushed by an invisible hand. Two combat skiffs that had been approaching from a distance stopped, a high pitched whir emitting from their armaments. Panicked drivers poured out of smoking hatches before the hulks collapsed inward and were flung backwards into the forest.

The wave soared into the battle above, its energy barely dissipating with the extreme distance. Onboard the massive star cruisers battling out in orbit, guns and shields failed. Energy arced from one control panel to the next and systems crashed across the board. Both rebel and enemy ships suffered the overload, but the enemy fleet received the brunt of the shockwave. As rebel crews stared in awe out the nearest viewports, the distortion of Leia's Force storm pushed the massive bulks of her foes' star cruisers into each other. Ships large and small smashed against each other like toys in a bathtub. Forward bows of the ships were pushed away from the planet, the collisions of the bigger vessels causing massive explosions as their hulls ruptured from the impact. Precious air, flames and bodies shot out into the vacuum. The enemy fleet was reduced to tumbling, floating wreckage.

On the surface, Leia stood shakily, looking detachedly at the devastation surrounding her. Her chest heaved up and down in extreme effort, her clothes and hair smoldered, thin wisps of smoke curling up from her shoulders in halo around her. The raging fires beyond were reaching for the sky, occasionally flaring brightly in flashes of light.

Leia closed her eyes for a few seconds, gathering her breath, nodded to herself once and gazed at the body at her feet. Fresh tears tracked down her cheeks, and she shuddered, as if chilled. She stepped back, still keeping her head turned towards Han. Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed into a limp heap over top of Han's torso.

Across the battlefield, the fires dropped to a natural level. There was a dead calm, punctuated only by the intermittent sizzle of a failed power cell, and the heavy breathing of the astonished combatants.

Luke felt her shield drop when her body did. He gathered himself up and stumbled awkwardly towards the shapes of his sister and best friend. His head still felt thick so he was unable to get a good read on her through the Force. The young Jedi knelt next to Leia. He reached out and hauled her petite frame towards him by her shoulders, her head lolled back, her torso and expression slack. After a moment of her brother clutching her, she moaned. Luke felt his own tears at the corner of his eyes. She was alive. Thank the stars. He held her close, feeling the unnatural heat still radiating from his twin. Her eyes flickered for a second and she moaned again.

"Han…"

"Leia, I am so, so sorry." Luke's eyes travelled to the body beside them. Han's eyes were closed, his expression serene, as if sleeping. Luke gazed at his best friend's corpse, wondering how his sister would cope with this newest tragedy after today.

Then there was a weak cough, a flutter of lashes, and Han gasped loudly, arching his back. The Corellian let out a cry and curled around his wounded side, whimpering. Leia's eyes shot wide open and she tore herself away from her stunned brother to charge to Han's side. She put her hand over the gaping hole in his jacket, probing, she felt a thin membrane of flesh over the pulsating injury. Her fingers came back with a slight veneer of sticky fresh scarlet. She stared dumbfounded at her hand and a coarse laugh bubbled up from her throat. Han remained grievously wounded, but he was alive. Alive! She sobbed noisily and hugged the love of her life fiercely to her. Han groaned and fumbled for her. She responded eagerly, crashing her lips against his in a deep, frantic, passionate kiss. He responded weakly, letting her kisses pepper his jaw, his cheeks, and his neck. When she came back to Han's mouth she let herself settle into the slow motions of his lips, their tongues gently stroking the other. After a few moments they disengaged and Han's head lay in her lap. His fingers brushed lightly at a stray lock of her hair, tucking it behind her ear in a familiar gesture of affection.

Luke sat back on his haunches and swiped at his eyes, watching the world around the pair shake off the cobwebs in their brains after Leia's outburst. Luke's Force sense slowly returned and the Jedi felt his twin's presence as always; bright, light and strong. But now her sense wrapped around another familiar light. Her energy and Han's now created a brilliant flare in the Force. One soul reinforcing and strengthening the other, their glare of their combined energies thrumming outward like a pulsar.

"W- Where you yelling at me?" Han rasped feebly at Leia. His glittering hazel eyes bored into hers, questioning. "I-, I thought I could hear you screaming and swearing at me from far, far away."

Leia chuckled raggedly and hugged him tighter. "I thought I'd lost you, Nerfherder." She teased. "You promised me you'd never leave. You'd promised..." She choked back a sob, unable to finish.

"I never get lost. You know that. " Han murmured, his characteristic crooked smug grin brightening his features, and in response her heart skipped a beat. "Besides, if I did, you'd never let me live it down."

Her joyful tears dripped down, shimmering wet jewels landing on his cheeks. Leia looked at him squarely with a mirror of his smile on her exhausted face and said, "Honestly Han, if you ever do that again, I'll kill you."

-end-


End file.
